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CHAPTER THREE
3. CHARACTER
Introduction
Character refers to the sum of an individual’s qualities and characteristics which differentiate him/her from others. An individual’s character is actually an amalgamation of his/her qualities which makes him unique and helps him stand apart from the rest. In this chapter we will discuss the meaning of character, major salient features of character, autonomy and ego integrity. General Objectives: After completion of this chapter, you will be able to: Define the term character. Identify major characteristics of character. Be familiar with the notions of ego autonomy and integrity.
3.2. The Meaning and Characteristics of Character
Overview: In this part we will talk about the meaning, characteristics and development of a character. Objectives: Upon the completion this part, you will be able to answer: What is character? What are the characteristics of a character? How the character develops? The word "character" is derived from the Ancient Greek word "charakter", referring to a mark impressed upon a coin. Later it came to mean a point by which one thing was told apart from others. Therefore, character refers to the sum of an individual’s qualities and characteristics which differentiate him/her from others. An individual’s character is actually an amalgamation of his/her qualities which makes him/her unique and helps him stand apart from the rest.
Character plays an essential role in personality development. Remember personality development is not only about looking good and wearing expensive brands. It is also about developing one’s inner self and being a good human being. More than anyone else, you are answerable to yourself. Do not do anything which you yourself are not convinced of. An individual is nervous only when he is ashamed of what he/she is doing. Character is something which an individual is born with and seldom changes with time as against behavior. For example, honesty is an individual’s inherent character which would never change irrespective of his/her situation or circumstance. Would you steal or cheat others just because you do not have enough savings with you at the moment? Absolutely NOT, but, because of it is just there in your blood. Character includes traits such as honesty, leadership, trust, courage, and patience. You can’t force an individual to be loyal towards his organization or for that matter his family members. Character is something which comes from within and is often long lived. A good character helps you develop a winning personality. In other words, a good character is the backbone of a magnetic personality which attracts other people. What is the difference between character and personality****? Most of the time, these two words are used interchangeably, it might be helpful for us to discuss how these two differ from each other. Character is basically defined to be a particular system of traits that are permanent to each person. One’s character shows on how the person acts and reacts to his or her peers; and how he or she deals everything that happens around him/her. One’s character is molded depending on his environment. If one grows up in a peaceful family-oriented atmosphere, most likely he has a good character. Whereas, personality is the one making the person react in a certain way in various situations. Basically, it is the image that one presents in front of others, thus some refers to personality as “plastic” or untrue. Human behavior can be difficult to understand, so as character and personality. But one thing we have to understand is this; character is objective while personality is subjective. Character is something within you and is always there, for example, morals. On the other hand, one’s personality can and may change at
3.4. Character as an Inner Organization
While most researchers support a multidimensional aspect to moral character, especially Lickona’s (1991) advocacy of affective, cognitive, and behavioral components, several authors support additional components. For example, Narvaez and Rest (1995) suggest that the skills of moral and character development should be considered in terms of four psychological components. They say that the focus should be on the internal processes and behavioral skills that are required for moral behavior and propose that sensitivity, judgment, and motivation emerge from the interaction of cognitive and affective processes.
- Ethical Sensitivity —the perception of moral and social situations, including the ability to consider possible actions and their repercussion /consequence in terms of the people involved;
- Ethical Judgment —the consideration of possible alternative actions and the rationale for selecting one or more as best;
- Ethical Motivation —the selection of moral values most relevant in the situation and the commitment to act on that selection;
- Ethical Action —the ego strength combined with the psychological and social skills necessary to carry out the selected alternative. For Huitt (2000), moral character incorporates the underlying qualities of a person’s moral or ethical knowledge, reasoning, values, and commitments that are routinely displayed in behavior. Character is associated with the quality of one’s life, especially in terms of moral and ethical decisions and actions. Berkowitz (2002) identified seven psychological components of the “moral anatomy,” and urged scientists and educators to begin reconstructing the “complete moral person.” a. Moral behavior (pro-social behavior like sharing, donating to charity, telling the truth) b. Moral values (belief in moral goods) c. Moral emotion (feeling guilt, empathy, compassion for moral vs. immoral behavior) d. Moral reasoning (providing justification about right and wrong) e. Moral identity (accepting morality as an aspect self-image) f. Moral personality (enduring tendency to act with honesty, altruism, responsibility) g. “Metamoral” characteristics meaning they make morality possible even though they are not inherently moral.
3.5. Development of Personality Characteristics
Your experiences as you grow up contribute to your personality, or character, as an adult. Freud felt that traumatic experiences had an especially strong effect. Of course, each specific trauma would have its own unique impact on a person, which can only be explored and understood on an individual basis. But traumas associated with stage development, since we all have to go through them, should have more consistency. If you have difficulties in any of the tasks associated with the stages of weaning, potty training, or finding your sexual identity, you will tend to retain certain infantile or childish habits. This is called fixation. Fixation gives each problem at each stage a long term effect in terms of our character. If you, in the first eight months of your life, are often frustrated in your need to suckle, perhaps because mother is uncomfortable or even rough with you, or tries to wean you too early, then you may develop an oral- passive character. An oral-passive personality tends to be rather dependent on others. They often retain an interest in "oral gratifications" such as eating, drinking, and smoking. It is as if they were seeking the pleasures they missed in infancy. When we are between five and eight months old, we begin teething. One satisfying thing to do when you are teething is to bite on something, like mommy's nipple. If this causes a great deal of upset and precipitates an early weaning, you may develop an oral aggressive personality. These people retain a life- long desire to bite on things, such as pencils, gum, and other people. They have a tendency to be verbally aggressive, argumentative, sarcastic, and so on. In the anal stage, children are fascinated with their "bodily functions." At first, they go whenever and wherever they like. And parents seem to actually value the end product of all this effort! Some parents put themselves at the child's mercy in the process of toilet training. They beg, they cajole, they show great joy when you do it right, they act as though their hearts were broken when you don't. The child is the king of the house, and knows it. This child will grow up to be an anal expulsive (anal aggressive) personality. These people tend to be sloppy, disorganized, and generous to a fault. They may be cruel, destructive, and given to vandalism and graffiti.
3.6. Ego Strength and Integrity
Overview: In this section we will clarify about ego strength, ego autonomy, and weak ego. Objectives: Upon the completion this section, you will be able to: Distinguish ego, strength, autonomy and weakness? Identify the characteristics of strong, autonomous and weak ego? Erik Erikson’s theory of psychosocial development is one of the best-known theories of personality in psychology. Much like Sigmund Freud, Erikson believed that personality develops in a series of stages. Unlike Freud’s theory of psychosexual stages, Erikson’s theory describes the impact of social experience across the whole lifespan. One of the main elements of Erikson’s psychosocial stage theory is the development of ego identity. Ego identity is the conscious sense of self that we develop through social interaction. According to Erikson, our ego identity is constantly changing due to new experience and information we acquire in our daily interactions with others. In addition to ego identity, Erikson also believed that a sense of competence also motivates behaviors and actions. Each stage in Erikson’s theory is concerned with becoming competent in an area of life. If the stage is handled well, the person will feel a sense of mastery, which he sometimes referred to as ego strength or ego quality. If the stage is managed poorly, the person will emerge with a sense of inadequacy. In each stage, Erikson believed people experience a conflict that serves as a turning point in development. In Erikson’s view, these conflicts are centered on either developing a psychological quality or failing to develop that quality. Let’s consider about stages of development: Psychosocial Stage 1 - Trust vs. Mistrust The time from birth and one year of age and is the most fundamental stage in life. Because an infant is utterly dependent, the development of trust is based on the dependability and quality of the child’s caregivers. If a child successfully develops trust, he or she will feel safe and secure in the world. Caregivers who are inconsistent, emotionally unavailable, or rejecting contribute to feelings of mistrust in the children they care for. Failure to develop trust will result in fear and a belief that the world is inconsistent and unpredictable.
Psychosocial Stage 2 - Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt The second stage of Erikson's theory of psychosocial development takes place during early childhood and is focused on children developing a greater sense of personal control. Like Freud, Erikson believed that toilet training was a vital part of this process. However, Erikson's reasoning was quite different than that of Freud's. Erikson believe that learning to control one’s body functions leads to a feeling of control and a sense of independence. Other important events include gaining more control over food choices, toy preferences, and clothing selection. Children who successfully complete this stage feel secure and confident, while those who do not are left with a sense of inadequacy and self-doubt. Psychosocial Stage 3 - Initiative vs. Guilt During the preschool years, children begin to assert their power and control over the world through directing play and other social interaction. Children who are successful at this stage feel capable and able to lead others. Those who fail to acquire these skills are left with a sense of guilt, self-doubt and lack of initiative. Psychosocial Stage 4 - Industry vs. Inferiority This stage covers the early school years from age 5 to 11. Through social interactions, children begin to develop a sense of pride in their accomplishments and abilities. Children who are encouraged and commended by parents and teachers develop a feeling of competence and belief in their skills. Those who receive little or no encouragement from parents, teachers, or peers will doubt their ability to be successful. Psychosocial Stage 5 - Identity vs. Confusion During adolescence, children are exploring their independence and developing a sense of self. Those who receive proper encouragement and reinforcement through personal exploration will emerge from this stage with a strong sense of self and a feeling of independence and control. Those who remain unsure of their beliefs and desires will insecure and confused about themselves and the future. Psychosocial Stage 6 - Intimacy vs. Isolation
According to Hartmann (1939), the Autonomous Ego is a conflict free zone, free from the war between the Superego and the Id, and it has its own autonomous system of drives, derived from the instinct for self preservation. A developed, Autonomous Ego is a conflict-free sphere of consciousness; there may be underlying conflicts outside this sphere that further development may resolve, but the consciousness within has a clear identity and is able to interact with the world independent of Id and Superego influences. It is free to reality test and to innovate creatively. The history of Western civilization is, with the Ego's increasing capacity to reality test and therefore to reason and create, a story of progress from faith to reality testing. Man has gradually been discovering more about nature and how to control it. Through reality testing, for example, we no longer accept the idea that one becomes ill because of evil spirits. We have advanced to the point where we can often pinpoint the exact bacteria that are the cause of many diseases. Further, we know enough about science to prevent and cure many others. Additionally, we have had an explosion in technology that exemplifies our ability to bend nature to our will, making what had previously been fantasies into reality. These are examples of man's direct control over our environment through scientific knowledge and our understanding of cause and effect, rather than illusory control through faith. The Ego can only become truly Autonomous by overcoming the Superego. The Autonomous Ego, by and large, is free from the dictates of the Id and has outgrown the Superego. The Ego understands and integrates the energetic drives of the Id and sublimates them toward loving sexuality and creative activity. The Autonomous Ego creates his or her own moral code and relies on his or her own sense of right and wrong, based on rational and objective analysis. This is an Independent Mind. Both Ego strength and independence from the Superego are essential for an individual to be truly creative, outside of the box of his upbringing and parental and peer standards. The Superego stands in the way of major creativity by suppressing any thought or feeling that is too unconventional or that may be subject to external criticism, so it routinely censors anything truly creative. Freedom from the Superego is a
necessary prerequisite, but creativity outside the boundaries of the ordinary also requires sufficient intelligence applied to an appropriate, wide-ranging database. Creativity research has traditionally regarded the creative process as involving a full or partial regression of the Ego to a more primitive state of consciousness. While some playful and creative activities may be characterized by voluntary and/or involuntary regressions, more meaningful creativity requires access to the unconscious imagination without a corresponding loss of Ego functions. Creativity requires a relatively intact Ego; when the Ego deteriorates, so does the creative product. Combined with Ego strength, unconscious processes such as imagination and intuition become consciously directed and work in collaboration with the integrative functions of the Ego, such as logical thought, which are related to directed creative effort and implementation. Ego strength is the power, determination and ability to engage reality for whatever we find it to be - to accept what is as existing and to then use our cognitive-behavioral, emotional and relational skills to deal with such. Ego strength also refers to the inner personal strength by which we tolerate stress and frustration and to deal with reality without falling back to infantile defense mechanisms. A strong Ego can tolerate a difficult situation, can cope and then will look at it realistically and act on a solution. Ego strength, then, is our ability to play the Game of Life according to whatever curves life throws at us. The stronger our Ego grows, the more of a sense of self we develop and the greater our skills and resource to handle whatever comes.
3.8. The Weak Ego and Impulsiveness
Personality traits of a weak ego include authoritarianism, conformity, dogmatism, other directedness, other-determinism, field-dependence, not tolerating uncertainty, low self esteem, and an egocentric viewpoint. An egocentric person is self-centered, having little or no regard for interests, beliefs, or attitudes other than one's own. In comparison, the traits of a strong ego include strength of character, inner-directedness, self- determinism, field-independence, high self-esteem, the acceptance of a plurality of ideas, and an
embraces fear and thus can transform and utilize its energy. It is that all-inclusive wholeness that gives our lives depth, dimension, expanded choice, and greater richness.
- Integrity is totally individual and personal. Integrity is not something anyone can give you or take from you— you either have it or you do not. It has nothing to do with popularity or doing that which is deemed politically or socially correct. It’s something you have to discover within yourself.
- Integrity is a conscious choice or our conscious choice. Every situation we find ourselves in involves choice of some kind. Will we resist change? Will we withdraw from a confrontation? Even when confronted with difficult situations not of our own making, we can choose how to respond. We may try to convince the world and ourselves otherwise, but at some level we recognize the truth; only we are responsible for our words and actions. Integrity is a conscious choice. Lacking integrity is a conscious choice. It is our choice and depends on nothing and no one except us. True integrity is spontaneously choosing to act on our values and spontaneously taking responsibility for the consequences of those choices. Either we choose to grow and become more of who we are, or we choose to contract, becoming less and less of what we were meant to be.
- Integrity is at the very heart of who we are. We cannot create a sustainable reality that exceeds the fundamental image we have of ourselves. In other words, we make choices that naturally resonate with what we believe about ourselves. If we see ourselves as unimportant and incapable, it is impossible for us to make constructive, expansive decisions with any confidence. Alternately, if we have a healthy, positive sense of ourselves, our decisions, actions, and results naturally reflect this self-image. When we try to make decisions that are at odds with our actual self-image, the outcome will usually be short- lived, reflecting this dissonance. We will unconsciously create or allow circumstances that force our reality to align with our core self-image.
- Integrity is the bedrock and the cement of our purpose, principles, and character. From this foundation we develop a sense of value and purpose, out of which comes a vision of what could be. In striving for this ideal vision, we become more of who we truly are. Focusing on vision helps us see
possibilities, and enable us to plan with purpose and intention. Without the cement of integrity, we are left distracted, unclear about what to do, ineffective in action, and weighed down by negativity. Our values, purpose, and vision shape our principles. Principles, in this sense, are our self-chosen boundaries of behavior; of what we will and will not do in maintaining our integrity and moving toward our vision. They provide the framework for our actions. Our character is the degree to which we adhere to our principles. When we are clear about our principles, we can respond rather than react to any situation, including a hostile or manipulative one. We can play the game without getting caught up in it. If we are not clear about our principles, we tend to react and feel controlled by external sources. We become an effect rather than a cause of the game. Therefore, there is no substitute for integrity. Without the wholeness of integrity as our bedrock, we have no substantive sense of purpose, no noble vision, no clear principles of behavior, and no character.
3.9.2 Qualities that Distinguish People of Integrity
Qualities that accompany integrity include presence, honesty, humility, and discernment to name a few. Let’s explore some of these qualities in greater detail. a) Men and women of integrity exude presence ; they are able to be attentive and in the moment rather than distant and distracted. This quality is particularly telling as it indicates one’s ability to make responsible choices spontaneously. You cannot be spontaneous without being in the moment. b) People of integrity are honest, authentic, and trustworthy. They are unafraid to look at themselves honestly, can recognize shortcomings in themselves, and are willing to change. They are open to learning new ideas and trying new ways of doing things. They are more able to see others as they truly are and are open to learning and growing. In contrast, people lacking integrity tend to be full of judgment and preconceived ideas, unwilling to be questioned. Where lack of humility creates tension and fear in others, true authenticity inspires confidence and trust. It is authenticity that is the basis of trust. c) People of integrity have humility, dignity, discernment, and wisdom. Humility is the willingness to look at each moment afresh without the filters of fixed ideas or preconceived notions. Only with humility are we fully able to discern, differentiate, evaluate, and reach conclusions that are relatively
Summary
Under this chapter, meaning, features and integrity of character is discussed in relation to personality. And key points of the chapter were summarized accordingly. Character refers to the sum of an individual’s qualities and characteristics which differentiate him/her from others. It is something which an individual is born with and seldom changes with time as against behavior. Whereas, personality is the image that one presents in front of others, thus some refers to personality as “plastic” or untrue. Therefore, character is something within you and is always there, for example, morals. On the other hand, one’s personality can and may change at some point in life. Different psychologists wrote on a moral character differently, Wynne and Walberg (1984) that defined moral character as “engaging in morally relevant conduct or words, or refraining from certain conduct or words”. Berkowitz in 2002 defined moral character as “an individual’s set of psychological characteristics that affect the person’s ability and inclination to function morally”. According to Huitt, moral character incorporates the underlying qualities of a person’s moral or ethical knowledge, reasoning, values, and commitments that are routinely displayed in behavior. Early experiences as you grow up contribute to your personality, or character, as an adult. Ego identity is the conscious sense of self that we develop through social interaction. According to Erikson, our ego identity is constantly changing due to new experience and information we acquire in our daily interactions with others. According to Erik Erikson, if the stage is handled well, the person will feel a sense of mastery, which he sometimes referred to as ego strength or ego quality , unless the individual will develop weak ego. People with strong and autonomous ego become creative; hence they are free to test reality and to innovate creatively. In contrast, personality traits of a weak ego include authoritarianism, conformity, dogmatism, other directedness, other-determinism, field-dependence, not tolerating uncertainty, low self esteem, and an egocentric viewpoint.
